Kenny Omega Reflects On What Went Wrong In Barbed Wire Exploding Deathmatch

AEW Revolution 2021 ended in a dud as weak fireworks went off at the end of the barbed wire exploding deathmatch between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega. 

Omega was victorious in the match, and continued to assault Moxley after the bout with the help of The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson). Eddie Kingston made the save for Moxley, and covered up his friend as the countdown clock struck zero. Instead of a massive explosion, sparklers and couple of fireworks went off. 

Speaking to Renee Paquette on The Sessions, Kenny Omega detailed what went wrong at Revolution 2021. 

“The big one that always comes to my mind, the forefront of my brain is the exploding barbed wire deathmatch,” Omega said when asked about a time when something went wrong. “I was so proud of the match, I was so worried about the match because I’m not really a hardcore guy. I’m a guy that’s scared of needles and getting cut. When I’m in the heat of the moment, things happen and I just deal with it. When I’m getting thrown into barbed wire, in the heat of moment, sure, I can handle it. Going into a match knowing that this might happen and that might happen, I’m thinking worst case scenario, ‘Wow, I could catch on fire. I could sear my face off. I could get completely shredded by barbed wire if I get tangled in it.’ I was scared of stuff like that. The one thing I never thought would happen, and I should have considered it, was what if all this stuff that they’ve prepared, that they’ve done rehearsals for, that I know worked in rehearsals, what if, for some reason, on the day of, it doesn’t work? It never popped into my mind. That feeling, you just think that the stuff you can’t control is going to be there for you. I’m trying to worry about what I could do to control the unknown. The thing that I can’t control, any sort of technical aspect of the match, I can’t do that. I’m just trusting that all these people who have the know how and that have been tasked to do this can pull it off.”

When asked what went through his mind as the explosion was a dud, Omega replied, “I was giving the entire situation the benefit of the doubt because it was a super windy day and the way the wind traveled through the half open air arena, I thought, ‘Maybe this place has been so wind tunneled up that something has caused this to not fire the way that it should.’ I was hoping that’s what it was. When I heard the real reason, where it was the boss who was not there from full rehearsals, had then showed up to the actual real life show and said, ‘I have a way to make this look even better,’ and that was his idea. Wait, you decided on the spot when you didn’t know the idea, you didn’t see the rehearsal, and that’s the direction he decided to go in. Yes, there were misfires within his new idea that he decided, but I just wish we would have done what we had practiced.”

It was reported that Omega was “furious” with how the explosion went down. 

When asked about his reaction, Omega replied, “I remember walking to the back, and I didn’t want to show any sort of emotion, one way or another. Whatever it was that I was going to do, I was going to do it away from people. Maybe in front of the Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson), maybe in front of people that have seen me at my worst. I was going to do it in front of them and then I was going to come back out and be like, ‘wasn’t that great everyone?’ I remember being on my way to the back, and I saw Jerry (Lynn), he kind of sprinted up beside me and was like, ‘Kenny, don’t do it man. I know you’re pissed off, but don’t do it.’ I’m like, ‘Jerry, I don’t know what I’m going to do, I feel like crying.’ ‘It’s okay, nothing you did wrong. I’m pissed off too. Hopefully you don’t blame anyone involve in the match.’ ‘No, I don’t.’ That was the most upsetting part in that moment. I don’t know who to blame, I don’t know who is at fault, I just feel so terrible for Jon, Eddie, and myself. Boy do we look like sorry saps. I was nice to, as best as I could, scrub the finish and just think how did our work aside from that one technical flub. I liked it, I really did. It sucks that the last part is what’s going to stick in everyone’s mind. It just reinforces that, everything we do as performers and artists, don’t ever say, ‘Kenny, you had the greatest match of all time.’ Let’s say you really think that. I was just a part of it. I had an opponent, a great crowd, a great ring, I hit my entrance, the referee was there selling the counts. It’s such a team effort. If one of those things goes sideways, then the whole experience suffers as a result.”

In order to explain the dud explosion, Moxley discredited Omega’s ability to rig the explosions and Omega said he didn’t really want to kill Moxley. 

“We were able to pivot away and make it into something else, which was, in its own right, ridiculous, ‘Hey, I wanted you to think you were going to get blown up and burned alive, but I’m not a murderer.’ Yeah, I guess that makes sense. If I blew up someone for real, that’s not good,” said Omega.

The feud between Moxley and Omega briefly continued after AEW Revolution 2021, but the two have yet to have another singles bout since the barbed wire exploding deathmatch. 

Elsewhere during the interview, Omega discussed being an Executive Vice President in AEW. You can find his full comments by clicking here. 

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